The 2022 Regular Legislative Session was “historic.” Historically bad. Lawmakers started the session with a $1.5 billion revenue surplus. The surplus represents too much money being taken from you.
What did lawmakers do with that money? They used it to expand all aspects of government. They passed the largest education and general fund budgets in state history.
They did not use the largest surplus in state history to cut taxes for most Alabamians. Alabama remains one of only three states that fully taxes groceries. Gov. Kay Ivey's and the legislature’s 2019 gas tax hike remains in full effect. Parents have no expanded authority to choose what learning environment is best for their child.
The only fiscal win for Alabamians was $160 million in targeted tax cuts, less than 1.5% of this year’s budget, with over half of the “cut” coming from state government not taxing federal stimulus payments made to citizens. This is money that the state never anticipated having in the first place.
Full attention now turns to the May 24th primary elections. Who voters elect will shape our lives for years to come.
You would think that candidates are talking about important issues like how to lower your taxes and reduce spending. How to combat inflation and rising gas prices. Maybe they are talking about how to get Alabama away from the bottom of national educational rankings?
Most aren’t.
What they are talking about are “shiny objects” they would have little to no control over if elected and aren’t what Alabama’s voters should care most about.
It seems that all major Republican candidates running for governor or Richard Shelby’s vacated U.S. Senate seat have ads talking about how terrible President Joe Biden is for Alabama. While many Alabamians may agree with this sentiment, Joe Biden is not running for Alabama governor or the open Senate seat. He didn’t increase the state gas tax. He didn’t expand Alabama’s government by 36% in three years. Our current governor and legislature did that.
What happens at the Alabama state capital has a greater impact on the lives of Alabamians than what happens in Washington.
Incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey recently told 1819 News that her biggest regret of the 2022 session was that gambling legislation didn’t pass. She doesn’t regret that little to nothing was done to help businesses that were shut down by her COVID-19 emergency orders. She doesn’t regret that nothing was done to provide relief from gas prices that she pushed to increase.
Gambling and lottery legislation has been debated numerous times over the past 25 years. If Alabamians wanted the opportunity to vote on it so badly, they would have elected legislators that would vote to give them that chance by now.
Several gubernatorial candidates have aired television commercials talking about the dangers of illegal immigration, vowing to stop illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits and even to drive them to the airport and put them on a plane back to the country they came from.
Alabama already has a law that prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving state benefits. The governor can’t do anything about federal benefits that illegal aliens may receive.
When it comes to deporting illegal immigrants, states can detain them, but the power to deport lies solely with the federal government. Until federal law changes, Alabama’s governor has limited power to combat illegal immigration.
Election integrity is another popular topic on the campaign trail. Nearly all of Alabama’s major Republican U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates have proclaimed that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Maybe it was. The fact remains that on Jan. 6, 2021, the election was certified, and Joe Biden was proclaimed the winner. A governor or senator cannot remove Joe Biden from office and have Donald Trump inserted as president. By all accounts, Alabama’s government has done a good job in ensuring that our elections are fair and uncompromised.
These are some of the issues that Republican candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are focused on. To be fair, several candidates for Alabama governor have aired commercials talking about the need to repeal the 2019 gas tax increase. One candidate for U.S. Senate published a white paper with their plan to reduce federal spending and balance the budget. It’s a start, but we need much more focus on the real issues impacting Alabama.
As voters make their final decisions about who to vote for in the upcoming primary it’s easy to get distracted by the many shiny objects candidates talk to us about. Don’t let that happen.
What Alabamians should know is how candidates plan to improve the lives of the citizens they are elected to represent. That means lowering our tax burden, limiting the role of government, promoting strong families, increasing personal freedom and opportunity and improving the quality of education for Alabama students, among other important issues.
The rest is just distraction.
Justin Bogie serves as Senior Director of Fiscal Policy at the Alabama Policy Institute. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to: Commentary@1819News.com.
